


It's the Little Deceptions that Charm

by hypnoshatesme



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Mostly Dialogue, Other, i feel like i've come full circle, writing about hair again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypnoshatesme/pseuds/hypnoshatesme
Summary: Michael finds joy in the small lies of Gerry's life.
Relationships: Gerard Keay/Michael | The Distortion
Comments: 10
Kudos: 84





	It's the Little Deceptions that Charm

"Gerard."

Gerry didn't look up from where he was leaning over the files Gertrude gave him a moment ago. Michael’s entry was never subtle so he had been aware of its presence. 

He reacted with an absent minded "Hm?"

"She calls you Gerard,” it clarified.

"I know."

"I call you Gerry."

Gerry wasn’t sure where this was going. "Brilliant observation."

"You lied to me. About your name."

"Wouldn't you have been able to tell if I did?" He finally turned around to face it, nearly bumping his nose against it in the process. Michael was always closer than he thought. Personal space wasn't a thing for it. Gerry guessed it wasn't a person. "I just prefer Gerry. For friends."

He had actually told Gertrude to call him that, too, but she had refused. It was fitting, he guessed.

"Am I a friend?" It asked with a knowing grin and pressed their noses together.

"Maybe more." He pressed his lips to its upper lip before returning the grin.

"And yet you deceive me…"

Gerry laughed. "That's sweet coming from you."

"That is true." It leaned back again and took him in. "I like Gerry better."

"Good taste." Gerry grinned, turning around to get back to work.

Michael leaned down to press its lips against his temple, mumbling, "I do like your taste, too."

Gerry chuckled. "Reassuring." 

*

Gerry was on his break, leaning back against the wall of the Institute with his freshly lit cigarette. Or it had been the wall a moment ago, before it started to undulate static, his back coming to rest against something that did not feel like the wall. As far as Gerry was aware, the Institute walls also had never had arms to loosely wrap around him before. 

He relaxed from the initial surprise and tipped his head back, coming face to face with Michael’s dizzying eyes and wide grin. Gerry rolled his eyes, not quite managing to fight the grin tugging at his lips. Michael’s eyes widened just a little more in expectation, but Gerry didn’t give it the satisfaction of saying anything. He settled into the embrace, looking ahead again as he brought the cigarette to his lips. It nuzzled his hair, stopping with a frown.

"What's happening to your hair?" 

Gerry raised an eyebrow, looking back up. "What do you mean?"

Michael brought its finger to follow the line of the parting. "Its white on top."

"Oh...yeah,” He took another drag from his cigarette. “I noticed the roots are starting to show."

"What does it mean?"

"That I need a new dye job."

"You dye your hair?" Michael sounded surprised, which was surprising on its own. 

Certainly in this context, considering Gerry had never had anyone think twice about the fact that his hair is dyed, even with him keeping up with the roots diligently. 

"Uh...yes?”

"You never told me."

Gerry raised an eyebrows. "Most people find it obvious."

It tightened his grip around his middle. "I'm not people."

"That's true.” He shrugged. “But yeah, I've dyed it since I was like...12 or something."

"Why don't you try other colours?" Michael had started to twist a couple of mostly black strands around its fingers.

"Oh I have." Gerry put out his cigarette before looking up with a grin. "But I like black."

Michael chuckled, a noise not unlike glass shards rubbing together, but quite unlike it at the same time. Gerry was still getting used to it. 

His grin looked somewhat strained when Michael answered, "I have noticed." Its eyes were sparkling as it looked into Gerry’s with an appreciative grin. "Another lie."

Gerry laughed. "I never told you I had natural black hair, Michael."

Michael brushed its lips along hairline. "You never told me the opposite."

"You're being silly," Gerry chuckled, but leaned his head to the side as Michael started kissing the spot behind his ear.

"Mhm…," was all the answer it gave between kisses, less noise and more of a rumble, a pleasant vibration against Gerry’s sensitive skin. He sighed appreciatively, eyes fluttering close.

*

Gerry looked up from his book expecting a yellow door only to be met with Michael itself, standing much closer than it should have been without Gerry noticing. Despite him always trying to be prepared for the unexpected, this time it made him jump slightly.

"Christ, Michael, where did you come from?" 

"The door,” it said in a surprisingly deadpan manner.

Gerry sighed, leaning back into the couch, "Sure you did."

Michael was eyeing him like one of those spot the difference pictures, intently and confused. Gerry raised an eyebrow in question. It hadn’t been in his apartment a lot before, but there was no reason to look this disoriented. It wasn’t a look that suited its face.

"What...happened to your hair?"

It was Gerry’s turn to look confused, one hand absentmindedly coming up to touch the still damp hair. Realisation dawned quickly and he shrugged, gently pulling on one of the coiled strands brushing his shoulder. "I washed it. And since I'm not going out today I just left it to dry naturally."

Michael sat down next to him. "You're not going to the archive?"

"On Sunday? No."

"Its Sunday?" Michael said, its fingers already in Gerry’s hair, playing with the curls. They were uneven, some bigger, some more tightly coiled, some more waves. But all felt new under Michael’s fingers, and as familiar as Gerry’s hair usually felt at the same time. Gerry was fairly sure its palpable excitement had little to do with their conversation. 

He had to smile. "It is."

Michael clearly was done with what went for smalltalk for it. "How did you do this?"

Gerry could feel it trying to put its finger through one of the ringlets.

"It's just like that, Michael.” He reached up to twist one of Michael’s curls around his finger. Or rather, encourage it to twist around his finger. Gerry was never quicker than the strands. “Like yours."

"Yours doesn't move."

"Well, it's just human curls, not Spiral ones."

It gently brushed its fingers through the curls, watching as most of them simply popped right back into their original state as soon as it let go. Some, however, stayed slightly smooshed. "They're soft,” it mumbled and the wonder in its voice made Gerry snort.

"Freshly washed."

"And pretty,” it added. "Why do you remove them?"

"I think by now it's just a habit?” Gerry shrugged. “When straight hair became the big thing, especially in the kind of scenes I was interested in, I started straightening it to look more like the musicians and such i looked up to. I just got used to it and never really stopped?" He brushed one of the curls that had fallen into his forehead away. "But I'm actually not bothered by the curls much today. It's just part of my routine, I guess."

"I like them."

Gerry grinned at the tone that suggested the words were an understatement. He looked up at it. "I'm glad you do."

Michael met his eyes, hand still in his hair, grin impossibly wide, eyes fond. "There's a lot of deception with you."

Gerry leaned against its side with a smile. "Mhm, we're the perfect match."

"Now we do match," it mumbled, wrapping its arms around him and pulling him into its lap, burying its nose in the black curls. "You're beautiful."

Gerry chuckled and turned his head to press his face into its chest. "So are you."

**Author's Note:**

> A couple months ago maybe or weeks dunno I was talking about how we never got canon hair structure for Gerry (....as you do) and how it could be wavy or curly for all we know despite most people drawing him with straight hair and then I went "Wait I need to visualise that" but I can't draw so I had to write about it instead.


End file.
